Perhaps this is an odd question, but I am wondering if the FCC has the capability of getting past licenses from archives. I was hoping that I might be able to get copies of past licenses for nostalgia purposes. I was first licensed as WN5CVI in June of 1962. Have any of you attempted this?

I wouldn't even know where to start, except maybe a letter to the FCC. since they've change technology several times in the past 40 years and couldn't even read the old tapes if they had 'em, I'm thinking you are down deep in the noise on this one.

I kept my old WN0 license in a box for years, so it hangs in the shack next to the new one.

If you do some research in the licensing forum here or on the ARRL or the FCC websites you will find that the FCC has no archival amateur radio licensing records. A letter to the FCC will only confirm this. The best hard evidence you may be able to find of your former license will be in a call book from 1962 or later. There is a ham who specializes in doing call sign research and an inquiry will lead you to him. His service has been reviewed here on eham.

Perhaps this is an odd question, but I am wondering if the FCC has the capability of getting past licenses from archives. I was hoping that I might be able to get copies of past licenses for nostalgia purposes. I was first licensed as WN5CVI in June of 1962. Have any of you attempted this?

Dave, NK7Z is correct in that old licenses were destroyed. But the FCC did not store licenses in St. Louis but in the FCC building in Gettysburg, PA and they were kept in the basement of that building which was hit by that great flood of about the same time period of the St. Louis fire.

Around 2007 I contacted the FCC to try and verify the date of my first licence which was a K3 call. I was trying to submit proof of 50 years as a licensed ham to the QCWA for their 50 recognition certificate. Direct phone contact with the FCC in Washington and with a gentleman who previously worked in the Gettysburg office is the source of my info. By the way, I was able to establish the date I was looking for by contacting hams with calls either side of mine and close in sequence and using QRZ lookup. Two hams were kind enough to submit verification to QCWA that showed I was licensed in August of 1957. I know that doesn't help you but may help someone else establish a license date.

If you want a hard copy certificate, I would suggest contacting the business that will custom print newer licenses in the format that used to be used by the FCC on license grants--or as close to that as can be done.

The business used to be under www.hamcerts.com, but that URL is vacant now. If I find another, I'll let you know, here.

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